Appendix I:  Prayer of the Engaged

God our Father, in your own good care and wisdom, we have come to know each other. We have come to discover something of the mystery of each other. Pour out your blessings on _____________, whom I want to love for the rest of my life: blessings for safety, for strength, for joy.

Help us, as we form a family together, to find a new way to love the families who have loved and nourished us until now. In these hectic weeks and afterwards, help us laugh when small plans don’t work out, and make us willing to support each other in real problems.

Let us stay always secure in one another, secure in you, and secure in prayer. Grace our relationship with the gift of your Holy Spirit, so that, day by day, our affection may grow into self-sacrifice, our passion into deep human caring, and our warm feeling into lasting commitment. Bring to fulfillment the wonder of your ways that you have begun to reveal to us. We pray this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.